2019 Weekly Writing Log, Part Ten
Nov. 17th, 2019 08:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingThis was an intense week, but I somehow managed to make it through. This is what I accomplished:
- I edited and posted Chapter 16 of Malice. This is a short and utilitarian chapter. I could have spent more time on it and made it longer by developing a few unused ideas, but I want to keep the story moving forward. Besides, I’m sure that all the notes and half-finished paragraphs I wrote will find a place elsewhere.
- I finished Chapter 17. This chapter is a major turning point in the story, and it’s not short by any means. I’d like to post it next weekend, but I’m going to have to spend every day this week editing it.
- I posted the final story in A Hero’s Inventory. I’ve had a lot of fun with this project, and I might return to it later. For the time being, however, I’m going to use the time I’ve opened up to work on the story for the Ganondorf zine.
- I posted my book review for this month on my blog and put an abbreviated version on Goodreads. I also edited another of my reviews from 2018 and put that on Goodreads as well.
- I want to reprint my Haunted Haiku chapbook, so I did the text edits this week. Next week I’ll do the formatting edits and send it to the printer. Once this print run sells out, I may put the book on Amazon.
- Speaking of books, I finally pressured my editor into committing to a release date in May. There’s a lot going on in terms of timing that I don’t understand, but apparently May is a good month to publish this sort of book. In the meantime, I now have a formal letter confirming the release date, as well as a nice check in the mail.
- I got a lovely sketch commission of Wind Waker Ganondorf from Vhyrel (whose Final Fantasy XII art is hhnnnnngggg), and I’ve been in contact with them about doing a cover illustration for Malice. Vhyrel is an honest-to-goodness professional comic book artist, and an actual illustration commission from them might be the entirety of my cash advance. Will it be worth it? Absolutely.
- November 15 was the deadline for all sorts of graduate programs, study abroad programs, scholarships, and internships, so I had to write a lot of rec letters this week – three a day, actually. I don’t mind doing this, though. The kids are all right, and I want them to be happy and successful.
- I’m teaching a Media Studies class this semester, and I had them do a creative final research project in the form of a zine page (or pages, for many of them). They turned their work in on Tuesday, and I edited and formatted everything into a fifty-page zine that I just sent off to the printer this morning. This was exactly as much work as you’d think it would be, but I’m good at what I do.
- I made another zine for the class as a surprise. Earlier this semester we did a project in which we designed a group of kaijū, and I took all their designs and ideas and turned them into what’s essentially a 1990s JRPG game manual. I’ve been working on this project on and off for the past month, and I was able to send the file to the printer this morning. Teaching has its ups and downs, and I’m far from the best college professor that ever was, but listen. If you’re working with a large group of smart and talented kids and not making video game monster manuals, then you’re not living your best life.
- I left another dozen reviews on Etsy. I just really love zines okay.
- I’ve been working on writing short captions for all of my bookmarks on AO3, and I’m almost done. I leave kudos on almost everything I read, but I’m more selective with my bookmarks. I spend a lot of time browsing through other people’s bookmarks, and I always appreciate when they include a brief comment explaining why they’ve bookmarked a certain fic. Once I’m finished curating my bookmarks, I think it might be cool to start thinking about rec lists for certain ships and characters. My tastes are admittedly a little odd, but I like to think I have a good eye for what makes a story interesting.
- My department voted to grant me tenure, which is an extraordinary honor. I cried kind of a lot.
At this point I’m so tired that my teeth hurt and my eyes are practically transparent. I’m really looking forward to chilling out and playing the new Pokémon game during the coming week.
- I edited and posted Chapter 16 of Malice. This is a short and utilitarian chapter. I could have spent more time on it and made it longer by developing a few unused ideas, but I want to keep the story moving forward. Besides, I’m sure that all the notes and half-finished paragraphs I wrote will find a place elsewhere.
- I finished Chapter 17. This chapter is a major turning point in the story, and it’s not short by any means. I’d like to post it next weekend, but I’m going to have to spend every day this week editing it.
- I posted the final story in A Hero’s Inventory. I’ve had a lot of fun with this project, and I might return to it later. For the time being, however, I’m going to use the time I’ve opened up to work on the story for the Ganondorf zine.
- I posted my book review for this month on my blog and put an abbreviated version on Goodreads. I also edited another of my reviews from 2018 and put that on Goodreads as well.
- I want to reprint my Haunted Haiku chapbook, so I did the text edits this week. Next week I’ll do the formatting edits and send it to the printer. Once this print run sells out, I may put the book on Amazon.
- Speaking of books, I finally pressured my editor into committing to a release date in May. There’s a lot going on in terms of timing that I don’t understand, but apparently May is a good month to publish this sort of book. In the meantime, I now have a formal letter confirming the release date, as well as a nice check in the mail.
- I got a lovely sketch commission of Wind Waker Ganondorf from Vhyrel (whose Final Fantasy XII art is hhnnnnngggg), and I’ve been in contact with them about doing a cover illustration for Malice. Vhyrel is an honest-to-goodness professional comic book artist, and an actual illustration commission from them might be the entirety of my cash advance. Will it be worth it? Absolutely.
- November 15 was the deadline for all sorts of graduate programs, study abroad programs, scholarships, and internships, so I had to write a lot of rec letters this week – three a day, actually. I don’t mind doing this, though. The kids are all right, and I want them to be happy and successful.
- I’m teaching a Media Studies class this semester, and I had them do a creative final research project in the form of a zine page (or pages, for many of them). They turned their work in on Tuesday, and I edited and formatted everything into a fifty-page zine that I just sent off to the printer this morning. This was exactly as much work as you’d think it would be, but I’m good at what I do.
- I made another zine for the class as a surprise. Earlier this semester we did a project in which we designed a group of kaijū, and I took all their designs and ideas and turned them into what’s essentially a 1990s JRPG game manual. I’ve been working on this project on and off for the past month, and I was able to send the file to the printer this morning. Teaching has its ups and downs, and I’m far from the best college professor that ever was, but listen. If you’re working with a large group of smart and talented kids and not making video game monster manuals, then you’re not living your best life.
- I left another dozen reviews on Etsy. I just really love zines okay.
- I’ve been working on writing short captions for all of my bookmarks on AO3, and I’m almost done. I leave kudos on almost everything I read, but I’m more selective with my bookmarks. I spend a lot of time browsing through other people’s bookmarks, and I always appreciate when they include a brief comment explaining why they’ve bookmarked a certain fic. Once I’m finished curating my bookmarks, I think it might be cool to start thinking about rec lists for certain ships and characters. My tastes are admittedly a little odd, but I like to think I have a good eye for what makes a story interesting.
- My department voted to grant me tenure, which is an extraordinary honor. I cried kind of a lot.
At this point I’m so tired that my teeth hurt and my eyes are practically transparent. I’m really looking forward to chilling out and playing the new Pokémon game during the coming week.
